Capt. Scott Fletcher told the Denton City Council Tuesday night that, once the contract was awarded to Schmoldt Construction, construction of the new animal shelter, which will be named for Linda McNatt, would begin next month.

Early estimates put the cost of construction at a little more than $5 million, but Schmoldt’s bid came in at about $4.2 million. In addition, the company offered a discount if the city paid construction invoices within 30 days, which could save the city up to another $42,000.

Early estimates also had the new building opening in July, but Schmoldt told the city it could be finished and the building opened by April 15, 2014. Hmm, that is prime election-season time for a ribbon-cutting.

The Denton Animal Shelter Foundation will cut a check for $1,271,200 when the city signs the construction documents and allow the city to draw on another $218,830 in pledges still being paid to the foundation. Fletcher told the City Council that represents about 1/3 of the construction costs, and an indication of how much the community wanted a new shelter.

A reader called after learning about the opening of the rail trail bridge to ask about how to access the trail.

Denton Parks and Recreation describes the major points of access here and provides a map of the trail through Denton and Corinth here.

Happy trails to all you bikers/runners/hikers out there.

James Fonteno, son of former District 1 Council member Charlye Heggins, said his mother really wanted to be there today when the city dedicated the Loop 288 pedestrian bridge for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Here’s Ms. Heggins at the groundbreaking last June.

Al Key/DRC

And James, today:

Al Key/DRC

Today was the grand opening, but the bridge opened to hikers and bikers on May 29, the same day that Ms. Heggins died.

Sometimes, I like to believe you can see the spirits in a photo.

But, don’t worry, the story in tomorrow’s paper will stay grounded in earthly facts and figures.

On Tuesday, the Denton City Council agreed to a recommendation that the the city lower its adoption fees. In my story about the meeting, I mention a survey and how Denton’s fees compared. Here is a copy of that survey (Dogs on page 2, cats on page 3). 1931_001 (1)

It was interesting to note that the city has learned that giving animals away for free isn’t the best way to assure they find a new forever home. People have a much greater tendency to bring the animal back if it isn’t quite right, Capt. Scott Fletcher told the council.

Comments on the story show that understanding how much to charge, and how to motivate people to adopt is both art and science.

Here is the announcement from Peoples:
Visitation for Mrs. Heggins will be held Monday, June 3, 2013, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Morse Street
Baptist Church in Denton. Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 4, 2013 at
Morse Street Baptist Church.

Morse Street Baptist Church is located at 921 Morse Street.

Just finished a story for Saturday’s paper about the new Metro Safe Room Rebate Program, which will help people in Denton County (and Collin, Dallas and Tarrant County) pay for a safe room in their home.

Researchers at Texas Tech University helped develop the standards for safe rooms after years of shooting 2x4s around their lab and other fun experiments. They tested the kind of engineering needed to build a solid shelter, and you can see the final results here: ICC 500 or FEMA 36.

These new shelters aren’t your grandmother’s root cellars.

You may have seen the YouTube video supposedly filmed from the vent of such a shelter in a home in Moore, Okla.

The National Storm Shelter Association, also in Lubbock, has lots of information on its website about the process and parts of the new standards.For the short version, go straight to the brochure that describes how to evaluate the quality of a storm shelter.

In the story, I wasn’t able to include information about evaluating older, underground concrete shelters. Anything built prior to 2008 won’t meet those standards. Although first responders don’t know how many shelters are out there, there are some. I’ve seen a few in my drives around Denton County working other stories.

Texas Tech prof Ernst Kiesling said is important for homeowners to take a second look at the shelter door of those older shelters, particularly at how many latches are holding it closed.

No single latch has been found to withstand wind pressure or a hit from debris and keep holding the door closed, he said. So, a shelter door needs should have three latches for redundancy. That way, if one hinge takes a hit from debris, two more hinges can still be hard at work keeping the door closed.

He also said to evaluate the air vent. They should be covered in a way that prevents debris from coming down the air shaft. The common, rotating covers (also found on roofs) are not sufficient, Kiesling said.

Given what happened in Moore, you might be interested in this story on Channel 11, where reporter Joel Thomas took a tour of the elementary school in Jarrell. Jarrell was hit by an EF-5 in 1997. They spent an extra $250,000 to outfit the elementary school for sheltering in place.

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Residents remain curious about details of the proposed traffic circle between Apogee Stadium and the Denia neighborhood that we reported on a few days ago. We didn’t run the sketches that were shown to neighbors in the newspaper because they were conceptual drawings. If you view them (attached below), you’ll see why.

Denia area resident Mark Wirtz called today to talk about how long a property owner can be “in limbo” as the preparations and planning for a massive project, such as the widening of I35E, looms large and long — as in more than a decade of attending meetings and monitoring the situation for him. Wirtz said he thought for years that his house would be taken as part of right-of-way needed for the widening. He only just recently learned it finally had been decided it would be his neighbor’s house instead.

That being said, one final caution to you reader, viewer beware: Preferred Roundabout Option

Local history buffs have been concerned about some of the older buildings on East Hickory Street since Denton code enforcement opened a dangerous building case at 211 E. Hickory Street.

This week, I worked on a story about all the Hickory Street code enforcement happenings. It’s scheduled to run in Sunday’s paper.

Someone complained to code enforcement about 211 E. Hickory St. late last year and the  department opened up the case. Today, they provided the City Council with the following report: 2013-055 – 211 E Hickory Update Informal Staff Report

The 1920s era building needs a new roof. Photos in the report show daylight shining through the ceiling and the air conditioner dangling from the rafters.

The building is next door to Travelstead. There had been some confusion in the community about a potential threat to Travelstead. It’s owned by Rob Storrie and he recently moved out and is having some roof work done, too.

But code enforcement reassured that they aren’t working any cases on the Travelstead building.

The Travelstead building has a rich history and a bit of a following among antique car collectors. Here’s a little bit about that, too, most of which I wasn’t able to fit into the story.

I also spent time with Jimmy Normile, who has decided to sell his 1936-era building, after code enforcement came calling this week. Tim Beaty was there, as was an auctioneer, to talk business. Jimmy says he’ll sell and he will likely sign with the auctioneer to move his inventory, which catered to owners of older cars, too. Some DIYers knew that if you needed a part for your jalopy, you could check with Jimmy before heading to the junkyard.

It was kind of amazing to me how fast word spread when Jimmy decided to sell. But, I think Jimmy knew that potential was there, too. He complained about how much his values — and thus his taxes — had gone up in the past few years.

And it wasn’t like he didn’t know he was on code enforcement’s radar. He pulled out a stack of certified letters from the city to show them to me.

UPDATE: David Shelton emailed me this morning to say that, “It is important to note that I called Tim Beaty and the auctioneer. Neither had any prior knowledge of the code violations. I grew up with Tim and I knew of his kindness and outstanding character. I do not want for it to reflect poorly on Tim that he was there a few hours after the code inspector gave the citation.”

Denton ISD’s student mariachi, Dorado, raised $3,000 during a fundraiser May 18 at Calhoun Middle School.

The Denton ISD school board had approved an after-school mariachi program and the group met for the first time in January 2012. Miguel Cantu is serving as the part-time director of the program, which has one ensemble with 13 students from Denton ISD middle schools and high schools. Here they are in performance:

We received this appeal from Heather Walker about Brian Peyton this morning and are passing it on:

This is regarding The Brian Peyton Fund, or rather, Brian Peyton, who very much loves Denton, Texas, beer, playing guitar and hanging out with his friends. He was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor in April 2012. He went through chemo and radiation. Things had been going pretty well until very recently. Unfortunately, the tumor is back. This is not good news. We need help and we need it fast. 

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Please go to this site and donate some money if you have it, even the smallest amount helps. If you can’t donate money, leave some love on the comment page. Or buy a cool brain t-shirt. Or two! 

It would mean the world to a lot of people if you can help out now. Spread some love.

http://brianpeytonfund.theneener.net/

Thanks, y’all. Be healthy, happy, and peaceful!